


It Started at Karaoke

by TheDuchessUnseen



Category: Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir
Genre: F/M, Karaoke, Mentions of surgery, Sexpal is the best, gtn2019exchange, heart condition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:02:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22195237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDuchessUnseen/pseuds/TheDuchessUnseen
Summary: Dulcinea didn't want to go the bar she definitely didn't want to sing karaoke, she just wanted to stare at the cute librarian she had hardly ever talked to.  Her friend has other plans.
Relationships: Dulcinea Septimus/Palamedes Sextus
Kudos: 2





	It Started at Karaoke

**Author's Note:**

> This is for nixandnox and the entire GtN server!!!

Dulcinea was bored. She didn’t like crowds and liked loud, obnoxious crowds even less. But it was for a party, celebrating the winter break, and Judith insisted she come along.

She sure as hell wasn’t going to sing so she settled for people-watching and trying not to focus on the man at the end of the bar. Well maybe one glance.

With a sigh, she looked up and sighed. Palamedes had been hired as the school librarian for five months and she still had only managed to make office small talk with him.

“So, are you ever gonna talk to him?” a voice next to her said. 

She yelped and spun in her chair, glaring at Judith, “Don’t sneak up on people, and yes, yes I will. Sometime.”

Judith smiled evilly, “Why not tonight?”

Dulcinea’s eyes narrowed, “Judith, what did you do?”

The current drunk patron finished their song and the DJ’s voice filled the room, “All right, next up we have a requested duet! Dulcinea Septimus and Palamedes Sextus come on down!”

“JUDITH!” Dulcinea seethed.

“I had to take drastic action!” her former friend declared dramatically as she dragged her by the wrist to the stage, snatching Palamedes along the way. “Now sing!” she shouted as she practically flung the pair onstage.

Dulcinea wanted nothing more than to throttle Judith but the instant Palamedes smiled at her the noise of the bar stopped and her rage towards Judith stopped and oh she was in so much trouble.

“Are you ready?”

Dulcinea couldn’t even respond as she just smiled, and they took the microphone together. 

Dulcinea only had eyes for Palamedes as he began to sing, _“I can show you the world.”_

After a third duet, Dulcinea returned to her seat, smiling wider than she had in an awfully long time.

“I hate you.” she said to Judith.

Her friend smirked over her drink, “You’re welcome.”

“Hey Dulcinea!” the woman turned to see Palamedes coming up to her, a napkin in his hand. “I’m about to head out but maybe we can get some coffee sometime?” he asked handing her the napkin with his phone number written on it.

“Yes!” Dulcinea squeaked, her face bright red.

Palamedes smile grew and Dulcinea felt like she had seen the sun for the first time. “Great!” he said enthusiastically, “I’ll see you soon.” he turned to go before he stopped and took her hand in his and gently kissed it. “Thank you for the song.” he smiled, and then he was gone, leaving a sputtering Dulcinea behind.

“Sooooo.” Judith drawled, “What do we say?”

Dulcinea rolled her eyes and smiled. “Thank you, Judith.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next three months were some of the happiest of Dulcinea’s life, she and Palamedes officially started dating, she had even told Judith that she was thinking of moving in with him. Judith smiled and told her to go for it, and if it didn’t work out, she would always have a place with her. Grateful for her friends’ support, Dulcinea was eager to broach the subject during their date that night.

It was thirty minutes later that she collapsed.

It was a heart defect, a genetic disorder the doctors said, she’d need a heart transplant, if she lived long enough to find a match. Palamedes couldn’t hear anymore, he numbly walked to a stiff plastic chair in the waiting room and sat down, head in his hands. 

Camilla, his best friend since childhood, sat beside him.

She didn’t say anything, she waited for him to break the silence.

“I was gonna ask her to move in with me.” he said, eyes never leaving the floor. “I love her.”

Camilla took Palamedes’ hands in her own, “Tell her that.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

She said she loved him too.

They made plans to get a place together after she got out of the hospital.

Then she got worse. 

“I don’t want to drag you down with me! I can’t burden you with this!” On the phone, Dulcinea was sobbing.

“Please don’t push me away!” Palamdes pleaded, tears filling his eyes, “Dulci, I love you, I will be with you every step of the way.”

“I’m dying Palamedes.” Dulcinea sobbed brokenly, “I can’t ask you to go through this.”

There was a pause, “You don’t have to ask me.” That just made Dulcinea sob harder.

“I, I need to sleep.” she finally managed, “I, I just need the rest.”

“Okay, I love you Dulci.”

“I love you too.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEW YEARS EVE

Dulcinea sat alone in her hospital room, wearing the stiff gown and a party hat leftover from Judith’s visit earlier in the night. She has wanted to stay but Dulcinea insisted she go to a party.

She was about to turn off the light when a nurse knocked on the door.

“You have a visitor.” he said, “Are you feeling up to it?”

She nodded and the nurse stepped aside with a smile to reveal Palamedes carrying a karaoke machine behind him.

Dulcinea broke into a weak smile. “Wha- what are you doing?”

Palamedes smiled, “Well I wouldn’t be much of a boyfriend if I didn’t spend New Years with the love of my life.”

Dulcinea wiped away tears, “Pal-”

“Wait please, just, I wanted to bring back the night we met.”

Dulcinea smiled through her tears, “I love you.”

Palamedes smiled as he bent down to kiss her forehead.

“I love you too, now, what song do you wanna hear first?”

Dulcinea smiled.

It was almost midnight when Palamedes knelt next to the hospital bed.

“What are you doing?” Dulcinea asked.

Palamedes swallowed, “Dulci, I love you more than I thought was possible, you are my other half, my partner forever.” he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring box, opening it to reveal a gorgeous ring; Dulcinea’s breath caught in her throat.

“My darling Dulcinea, I don’t care if it’s for five minutes or fifty years, I know you’re scared, but I’ll be by your side the whole time, and I can think of no greater honor than by doing it as your husband. Dulcinea Septimus, will you marry me?”

Dulcinea wanted to say no, to push him away and tell him he deserved better, but, just for this once, Dulcinea listened to her heart. She pulled him into a deep kiss, like one they shared when they first started dating.

“Is that a yes?” Palamedes asked after they broke off the kiss.

“Yes, you dork.” Dulcinea laughed. “A thousand times yes.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two weeks later Palamedes got a call from Judith. After the fifth call he picked up. “Miss Deuteros if you need to make a call please use the school phones-” his scolding was cut off by Judith’s frantic voice. 

“Palamedes it’s, it’s Dulci!”

Cold dread settled in his stomach, “What?”

“I’m on my way I’ve got our days covered we need to go now!”

Palamedes was hurriedly pulling on his coat, “What is it what’s wrong?”

Judith burst into the doors at that moment, the students in the library came forward to see the commotion. Judith’s face brimming with tears and she was smiling as wide as she could.

“What?” Palamedes asked.

“It happened.” she panted, “Dulci got a heart.”

Palamedes began to cry tears of joy as he picked up Judith and spun her around, dimly aware of the sound of cheering students in the background.

“Go on get out of here!” the voice of the schools’ principal called from behind them, nodding their thanks, the pair raced off to the hospital.

They met with Dulcinea’s family and the heart surgeon, Doctor Cytherea. Before she was wheeled into surgery, her family and friends all spoke to her, Palamedes was last.

“Hello darling.” he said, kissing her hand.

She smiled up at him, “I’m going to be able to walk down the aisle at our wedding.”

“Yes, you will.” he smiled.

Dulcinea licked her chapped lips anxiously, “I’m scared.”

Palamedes kissed her foreahead, “Don’t be, I’ll be here waiting for you when you come out of those doors. I love you Dulci.”

“I love you too.”

The surgery felt like it lasted days, and when Dulcinea was wheeled back through the doors, Palamedes was there waiting for her.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked your gift nixandnox!!!! <3


End file.
